Michelin acquires Masternaut

French tyre manufacturer Michelin has acquired Masternaut, one of the largest European telematics providers. The Group expects that this acquisition will speed up the deployment of telematics offerings in the region.

Masternaut operates primarily in France and the United Kingdom. It provides a technical platform equipped with the latest technology and offers on-board telematics solutions to optimize vehicle fleet management and monitoring.

The company manages over 220,000 mostly light utility vehicles under contract. The transaction has been made on the basis of 8 times 2018 Ebitda before synergies.

According to Michelin, the acquisition will:

• Speed up the development of its Services & Solutions business for light vehicles and support the booming fleet market;

• Enable Masternaut to roll out its offering across the whole of Europe by taking advantage of the Michelin network’s geographical coverage;

• Increase the volume of data captured, allowing it to offer its customers the best solutions, improve product performance and develop its data science deployments, such as predictive maintenance.